21: The Office

Wednesday arrived and they all came to the office together — even Felisa offered to help, and brought Hugo with her.
"Are you sure you can give us the whole day, cousin?" Julián knew what it meant to leave his own office in someone else's hands. "We're talking eight hours..."
"I moved appointments around to be here — don't worry about it, Julián."
"What a dedicated boy!" Felisa grabbed Hugo by the shoulders and gave him a squeeze.
Hugo, broad and muscular, with chestnut hair and blue eyes, looked like a gym addict — though he was far more expert in HTML than in workout routines.
"I think it's fairly obvious I'm not a boy anymore, Mum — I'm thirty-eight, for God's sake!"
"One day you're making their baby food, and the next they're too good for a hug!" Felisa dramatised, hand to her forehead.
Everyone laughed.
"Manuel and his son are waiting for us outside their office building." Marta informed her nephew. "It just so happens that the upper floor of ADAN's building was up for sale."
"Oh, that's a great idea!" Hugo loaded the desktop units one by one into the van. "I imagine having the whole new company in the same building will make things a lot easier."
"But it'll only be the public-facing image — we'll finally be able to work remotely!" Melisa was stuffing hardware devices haphazardly into an enormous box.
"You weren't already?"
"We were probably the only company in Spain still working from an office during the pandemic!" Melisa complained.
"We moved all the computers to everyone's homes, and you two were still living with me," Marta pointed out. "Stop complaining, Melisa."
"I still don't know how you survived — your website is flat and completely uninspired." Hugo remarked.
Marta was taking the last painting down from her office wall.
"Hugo, speaking of websites—" she rested it on the floor and leaned her arms on the frame "—what do you make of ADAN's?"
"It's just as expressive as yours, but I'd say it's more direct and less intuitive."
They finished packing — barely enough to fill a small removal van — and reached the new location in fifteen minutes.
Manuel, Mario, Liliana and one other woman, who they gathered was the second secretary, were waiting outside.
Marta, Felisa, Melisa, Julián and Hugo appeared in front of the building.
The hire van driver helped them unload too, showing interest in Melisa, who declined his offer once the vehicle was empty.
Mario showed interest in Marta in brief, sporadic moments, but Felisa stepped in whenever she thought the boy might give himself away.
When they reached the open-plan floor they would fill with partitioned desks, Melisa did something rather bold for what everyone thought they knew of her.
Mario gently moved her away.
"What are you doing, Melisa?"
"Thanking you for looking after my mum—" she tried to kiss him again "—you're so thoughtful!"
Marta, unsettled, had to turn her back while Felisa stepped between them.
"That's just because he doesn't know I'm older!" Felisa took her niece by the arm. "Why else would it be?" She looked at Mario, seeking his complicity. "Isn't that right?"
Mario agreed, putting some distance between himself and Melisa.
Manuel, who had been watching his son's behaviour with pride, was now watching Felisa with something between admiration and wariness.
"Are you older than us? You don't look it."
"Would you believe it, handsome — I'm fifty-four!"
Manuel looked pleasantly surprised and broke into a smile.
"I would never have guessed, truly."
With so many people around, Marta was able to distract herself and not focus on Mario as much as her body was demanding. Two hours later, the computers were laid out across the floor in order, ready to be placed on the desks once they were assembled.
"GOZZE's staff will be here on Monday," Julián said, "so the furniture will need to be put together when the delivery people bring it."
"I paid for the assembly service — they'll do it when they come." Marta confirmed.
"Sir—" Lorena, Manuel's secretary, interrupted "—Liliana and I could go back to our desks."
Manuel nodded.
"Would you mind if I came too? Or Hugo?" Julián offered.
Lorena flushed with mild irritation. Liliana looked surprised.
Manuel let out a knowing laugh.
"I'll come too and show you the ADAN side of the building." He offered.
Lorena breathed out in relief, and Liliana went over to Mario.
"You don't mind, do you, boss?" the young secretary asked.
Mario smiled and shook his head.
"Do whatever you like." He said.
Jealousy might have taken hold of Marta, had she not seen Liliana skip to the lift with an almost childlike delight.
Melisa, on the other hand, looked as though her eyes might fall out of her head — until Marta stepped in.
"How old were you when you met her?" Marta smiled with understanding.
Mario looked at her, somewhere between grateful and pained.
"I was seven. We went to the same school and our mothers became friends at the school gates."
"She looks younger." Felisa noted.
"Because she is—" Mario glanced at Felisa and shrugged "—she's the youngest one, obviously."
"Well, I don't see why you need such a pretty girl as your secretary." Melisa complained.
"I can have more trust with Liliana than with anyone else from the start, and nothing would ever happen between us — do you know why?"
Melisa was still sulking, still jealous of the secretary.
"Why?"
"Because I'm in love with another woman — and it isn't her." Mario said, raising his eyebrows.
He was looking directly at Marta — but Melisa didn't notice. Felisa was more focused on watching Marta's reactions from behind her composed exterior, but Mario's words put her on alert.
"Niece — why don't we go and have Manuel show us around his side of things?" Felisa grabbed Melisa by the shoulders and started steering her towards the door.
"Isn't Mum coming?"
"Someone needs to stay for when the furniture arrives, Melisa."
"Mario?" Melisa was still clinging to the idea of staying near him.
"Go ahead without me — I'll help your mother. If Dad needs me, he can call."
Mario was kind and measured in the face of Melisa's veiled advances, but it wasn't until she had gone that he allowed himself to move close to Marta.
He pressed his forehead to hers, and with a loving smile and an overflowing soul, brushed his fingers over her hands.
"I thought I could be strong, but I was dying to touch you." Mario's voice dropped again, holding back the urge to kiss her. "Every time I say or hear the word cork, I'll be saying that I love you madly."
"I like that idea." Marta smiled faintly, unable to keep up the pretence she had set herself. "Maybe I'll do the same — I don't know!"
Mario took her chin, intending to kiss her, when the doorbell interrupted them.